rs

I'm with ya, my friend. Yes WA state. This weather (pretty much rainy and gray 10 months of the year!) generally doesn't effect me - moved here nearly 9 years ago but have been on antidepressants for over 20 years. I did just return from Cali celebrating my mom's birthday. I did enjoy the sunshine. Could be that I'm a little down being back at work, plus work itself has been more frustrating than usual this week. Plus I have a stupid cold sore or acne or something that I've messed with and now that area of my face is totally swollen! It hurts, plus I'm extremely embarrassed. I'm not too sure if the PS is playing a role in my issues because I only had my arms done and I'm doing fine with all of that. I can see where your TT is still wreaking havoc for you. Plus the fact that you were running a lot before and now you're not would certainly factor in.
I agree, we need to be kind to ourselves and ride this wave and focus just one day at a time. Being hard on ourselves will likely make it worse, at least that's what I've experienced during my overweight years.
We've got this - even though I am now going to crawl into bed and try hard not to cry.
Xo

The shirt is as old as the days long..... but the jeans are new.... Buckles size 27"... reg size 4.... These jeans make me look i have some what of a butt....

Just checking in …..

Very chic! Do you think I can borrow that black rain coat for over my new S&M compression garment experiment!?

and don't forget....... the right amount of money. JF has had wayyyyyy plenty of PS. Not that there is any thing wrong with that.... i would just like to see what she would really look like at her age. I watch her on Gracie & Frankie...
JLo is just amazing... i mean shes 50 and has the body any one would want... (me i'm any body)....

😂But will I love Me 😂
Joking Joking Joking

I absolutely agree.
I'd like to add that there is nothing wrong with the female/human body. It's a normal, natural thing. The idea of what one should/shouldn't do or wear are just social constructs, and they change over time. Plus, pssssst - look up Jane Fonda's body painting spread. And, I'd like to add that showing her body has NEVER been a problem for her. And it shouldn't be. I have a ton of respect for people with the confidence and self love to do what they want like that.
This brings up something that has been on my mind with the "ideal" discussion. A bit of background: I was super obese my entire adult life. Either dieting or feeling ashamed because I wasn't dieting and "should" have been. While having an "ideal" is a fun exercise, it's really not something I'm serious about.
My work right now is not changing my body into what I think I want it to be, and never being satisfied with it, to learning to love who I am now while still doing the stuff I love (I actually love weightlifting and running).
Of course within that is a balance, I'm going to have plastics in a couple of years to reconstruct my stomach (and probably my boobs). But I don't want to keep chasing some major ideal. I want some peace, and I want to model that to my students.
I know that we all have our own goals and our own wants. That's great and awesome and part of what makes us all unique and such a fun group. These are just some thoughts I'm having as I process what it means to choose to be in maintenance.

I think they are both awesome. In my own humble opinion, clothes (or lack of them) doesn't define class. The way one treats others unlike themselves does.

Happy surgiversary to me, happy surgiversary to me....

Here is my Surgiversary OOTD.

1 month + Update:
Life is progressing along, some days it like I never had surgery other days a sneeze leaves me incapacitated 😳
Belly button is coming along better now. My Primary swapped it for kicks and giggles to run a culture because she is that thorough. Turned out positive for an infection... no doubt from my inability to keep the area dry during showering.
No problem, messaged my surgeon to keep him in the loop and set up a follow up visit some time soon. Received a rx for antibiotics and I'm using a wound wash after I shower to clean the area as well as bacitracin. I am so glad I have a surgeon and primary who are consistently accessible.
Current weight today is 152 but 2 days ago ot was 162 because of Water retention and swelling 😳 this is exactly why you cant always trust the scale. I'm sure ill be something else tomorrow. Sadly with the water weight/ swelling I developed really nice curves and now they're gone again 😭
Bathing suit pics below (this suit didn't accommodate my breast pre surgery but now its slightly loose)

Post op day 17
Yay! I wore street clothes for the first time since surgery Jan. 21st to surgeons follow-up appointment yesterday. She said I was doing stellar. No swelling or healing issues. The tape was taken off all the stitches, and I am due back in 4 weeks. She would like me to continue wearing the compression garments (so I bought a second pair) for a total of eight weeks stating it's okay to take them off for an hour once a day, if bothersome. Actually, for me it's like a safe cozy body cocoon. A little black S&M fashion look? LOL. Guess I need to order a crop (will my English saddle riding jumping crop, do!?) kinky black stockings, handcuffs, black leather boots + belt? Haha. She prescribes that by wearing the compression the body can continue to heal, contour and evolve for premium results. Also, I am not to pad nor gauze any longer as she said the skin now needs to relearn their friction and sensory systems again. Come bedtime - I continue to prop up my back with pillow array and two under my thighs. Nothing else too exciting or exotic to report... Fluffy chick toy still a hit. Posies from a client.

Love reading all the posts here. I've been basically maintaining the past two years or so. I'm still 10 pounds away from my goal, but I just was never able to hit it. I seem to lose and gain the same 5 pounds over and over again... but I just can't get to 160.
It's so much harder now that my body really doesn't reject any food anymore, I have to have 100% willpower to not eat bad on my own. I think maybe I just have a case of the winder blah's. I haven't been to a gym since my surgery so I prefer outdoor activities. With the cold winter weather I've been hibernating more than anything.
My biggest issue is getting enough Water. I get so full from my coffee in the morning (I tried giving it up, it wasn't pretty) but it takes me hours to drink it... then I go home I usually have a Bang in the late afternoon (yes I know, energy drink = horrible even if it has no calories and sugar). Some days I have ZERO water!!! The crazy thing is that before surgery I ONLY drank water (gave up soda 25+ years ago) and now I rarely have water. I really need to work on that. Maybe I should grab some hint water right now... sigh

Love everything about this!

One thing that worries me is that now that I’ve almost entirely stopped losing (and yes.... that’s a GOOD thing) I’m going to need other goals to reach, cause the scale dropping more pounds is neither realistic nor adviseable.
This is why I’m starting to focus more on body composition, rather than the number on the scale.

The “high” from the weight loss is over, so that MUST be replaced with something else.

This is why I’ve got a session with my NUT planned on February 12th so we can work together to get my macros to a “maintenance” place that involves me working toward building up more muscle and endurance (she’s a serious runner so I’ll be interested in her thoughts on how many/what types of carbs I might need)
I too realize I’m 2-3 weeks of reckless abandon away from sliding down a dark hole of indulgence that will lead to depression, self-hate, and many of those other things that led me to MO to start with.
Sadly the surgery could only slice out part of my stomach, it couldn’t slice out the part of my brain that’s still “fat”.

Speaking of triggers, any carb for me in a way is a trigger.
Some, obviously are worse than others, but this is why it’s been so darn difficult for me to re-introduce them back into my diet.
Hell, I even had an incident a week or so ago with salad.

Freaking salad set me off for some reason.

This really is a huge mind f**k, but I’m glad we have each other to learn from and to lean on.

@rs ... Le Sigh. It's annoying...I know what I need to do, but feel like I just don't care/not getting any enjoyment from projects/setting or achieving goals/etc like I used to. I can feel my anal Type A tendencies disappearing...and I find that I'm saying to myself "Why Bother?"
You know, (I forget where you are located..was it Washington?) I think it was mentioned on another thread, but perhaps the recurring theme of the blahs and general malaise for many on this forum I have been reading on threads lately is due to the weather this time of year? (Well, plus we also had PS, so there's that).
Maybe that is why we are having difficulty staying the course?
Maybe we will feel better come spring?
I am going to take your #onedayatatime hashtag to heart today. Eff yesterday, eff tomorrow, eff getting so pissed about my perceived inability to "just do it already".
I am scrapping food and exercise goals today. I will do what I will do and be ok with it. My ONE SINGLE focus for today is to get to the end ofit without getting pissed at what I'm doing or not doing.
Ya with me?

I hear you. I think this may be partially due to the interruption of routine. But I also think it's about progression and maturation of your surgery. And depression. The crap foods/no exercise/no light stuff all breeds depression and inactivity. I'm a few months ahead of you and I went through this phase. The difference is that I was expecting it coming. It's like the other shoe that I've been waiting to drop. You know? So I was on guard for its arrival. And had a cunning plan in place.
When I feel the "doldrums" coming on and I feel disgust with things I've let slip back into routine from the old dead ways, I immediately know to "SWITCH GEARS" and change the game up on myself. This does something huge for me...it gets rid of boredom and complacency immediately, cuz it's a new game, with different rules. And then I deep dive into researching the newest changes. For me it's mostly about doing the headwork. It truly helps. And it helps to be involved with a real life face-to-face group (online) who have the same mentality.
For you it might be taking baby steps to dump your triggers (ahem...movie popcorn ) and start to clean up the diet. And it might also be adding new workout routines you are allowed to do--even if it's walking in short sprints. You can fast walk after this surgery can't you? And then getting back to doing what you love, running, when released to do it.
It's a scary realization that you can have regain, especially when you've enjoyed so much latitude with your maintenance diet composition. I'm only one bad meal/bad day away from regain. So it's a real see saw and can be a mind f**k. But it also keeps me on my toes. LOL. And it's not a big shocker to me. Cuz well...been dealing with it forevs. But it's much easier mentally and emotionally taking off 2lbs than it is taking off twenty. I'd rather eat miserly for 2-4days rather than 4-8 weeks or longer!

So much this. I am going through the same thing and it really scares me. Tonight I ate nearly an entire bag of chips in addition to other crap. I just couldn't, wouldn't stop.
I wondered when the honeymoon period would end, and apparently for me it seems it is at 18 mos post sleeve surgery. I accept that over all this time I truly haven't conquered my emotional eating issues, nor have I committed to exercising. Wrapped up in all this I think is that I'm basically just lazy and I don't like any type of discomfort, physical or mental. Gosh I just really like food, damnit. It does bring me comfort.
I will continue to work the mental aspect of this journey. #onedayatatime

So much this. I am going through the same thing and it really scares me. Tonight I ate nearly an entire bag of chips in addition to other crap. I just couldn't, wouldn't stop.
I wondered when the honeymoon period would end, and apparently for me it seems it is at 18 mos post sleeve surgery. I accept that over all this time I truly haven't conquered my emotional eating issues, nor have I committed to exercising. Wrapped up in all this I think is that I'm basically just lazy and I don't like any type of discomfort, physical or mental. Gosh I just really like food, damnit. It does bring me comfort.
I will continue to work the mental aspect of this journey. #onedayatatime

So much this. I am going through the same thing and it really scares me. Tonight I ate nearly an entire bag of chips in addition to other crap. I just couldn't, wouldn't stop.
I wondered when the honeymoon period would end, and apparently for me it seems it is at 18 mos post sleeve surgery. I accept that over all this time I truly haven't conquered my emotional eating issues, nor have I committed to exercising. Wrapped up in all this I think is that I'm basically just lazy and I don't like any type of discomfort, physical or mental. Gosh I just really like food, damnit. It does bring me comfort.
I will continue to work the mental aspect of this journey. #onedayatatime

So much this. I am going through the same thing and it really scares me. Tonight I ate nearly an entire bag of chips in addition to other crap. I just couldn't, wouldn't stop.
I wondered when the honeymoon period would end, and apparently for me it seems it is at 18 mos post sleeve surgery. I accept that over all this time I truly haven't conquered my emotional eating issues, nor have I committed to exercising. Wrapped up in all this I think is that I'm basically just lazy and I don't like any type of discomfort, physical or mental. Gosh I just really like food, damnit. It does bring me comfort.
I will continue to work the mental aspect of this journey. #onedayatatime

Travel day then a work dinner

Googling how to buy muscle implants...
For a friend 😂

I NEED her compression gear too 😂😂😂

I need her compression garments 😂

Good Morning all you beautiful ladies. I haven’t been posting much since I have the same ole clothes. Nothing new lately. I think I need to change that. Just another work day for me. But I feel alive again since I’ve been sick. I hope you all have wonderful days.

Okay, so I’m home and have had a bit of time to process. One thing I realized is that in my entire adult life, I have never been at a weight that was one I wanted to stay it. It was always about losing the next 10 lbs, or whatever. Even when I was gaining I knew I needed to lose weight, so I was in that mindset. I was just beating myself up for what I weighed and for still gaining. This feels very very odd.
Here is what I’m hoping for: building up my endurance so that I can go on 12 mile trail runs again. Last time I was up to that I weighed 230 lbs, so I’m interested to see the difference. Already hills are a VERY different experience. Right now when I run for more than 30 minutes, my body is trashed the next day. Not surprising, as I’ve been very low carb and low calorie. So my first priority is to get that in better shape. My dietician said to add in complex carbs and 2 Snacks a day and see where that lands me.
We are moving my powerlifting equipment out of the garage and into the house. My blood pressure is pretty low, and I get dizzy if I bend over too far, get up from laying down, etc. So it being in the garage was a safety issue (nobody was around). I’m looking forward to making headway in that area, too. In addition to being a longer distance runner, I was also a decent powerlifter a few years ago.
My body composition will change as a result of my increased activity. I’m looking forward to feeling strong and fit again.
i almost forgot! They printed out my intake photo. I’m including an after/current.